Manchester duo take charge of Europa ties
Reuters - Thursday 16 February 2012, 22:58
Manchester United earned
comfort in the unfamiliar surroundings of the Europa League with
a 2-0 win at Ajax on Thursday while their English rivals
Manchester City fought back against holders Porto to also take
control of their round of 32 tie.
Winger Ashley Young put three-times European champions
United ahead just before the hour mark and Javier Hernandez
extended the lead five minutes from time as they showed they
meant business in a competition they would rather not be in.
Their domestic title rivals Manchester City made it harder
for themselves in Portugal by conceding in the first half
against the run of play before an Alvaro Pereira own goal and a
late Sergio Aguero strike put them on course for the next round.
Other teams to build a solid advantage ahead of next week's
second legs were Ukrainian side Metalist Kharkiv who won 4-0 at
Salzburg and Atletico Madrid who take back to Spain a 3-1 win
over Lazio after fighting back from a goal down.
The 2004 winners of the UEFA Cup - the Europa League's
predecessor - Valencia secured a 1-0 win at Stoke City to sit
pretty halfway through the tie while Twente Enschede came away
with the same scoreline from Steaua Bucharest on a cold night.
Schalke 04 were glad to grab an equaliser 15 minutes from
time to draw 1-1 at Viktoria Plzen, while Legia Warsaw's tie
with Sporting was also evenly balanced after a 2-2 draw in
Poland and Udinese and PAOK Salonika played out a 0-0 draw.
German side Hannover 96 needed an 80th-minute penalty by Jan
Schlaudraff to complete a comeback at home to Club Bruges who
had taken the lead early in the second half through Maxime
Lestienne before Arthur Sobiech's equaliser.
Wisla Krakow, who played more than an hour with 10 men after
Michal Czekaj was sent off, left it even later to snatch a 1-1
draw at home to Standard Liege with Tsvetan Genkov netting in
the 88th minute.
In the day's other games, AZ Alkmaar beat Anderlecht 1-0
courtesy of Adam Maher's 35th-minute goal, Lokomotiv Moscow came
from behind to overcome Athletic Bilbao 2-1 and PSV Eindhoven
held on to an early two-goal lead to win 2-1 at Trabzonspor.
With the Europa League something of a consolation prize for
teams who were eliminated from the elite Champions League at the
group stage, the presence of heavyweights Manchester United and
mega-rich Manchester City has injected it with a bit of glamour.
STRONG TEAM
Having won seven European Cups between them, United and Ajax
could easily have been meeting in the Champions League rather
than the Thursday sideshow.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, whose club have never won this
competition or its predecessor, named a strong team to back up
his pre-match assertions they were taking it seriously but their
first-half performance lacked a cutting edge.
The English champions picked up the pace after the break and
made the breakthrough when Nani's cross eventually found Young
in space and the England winger took his time to pick his spot
through the legs of goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer.
Ajax had their chances but United keeper David de Gea kept
the four-times European champions at bay with some excellent
saves, including one at full stretch from Siem de Jong's curling
shot in the first half.
United made absolutely sure they left the Netherlands in the
driving seat when substitute Antonio Valencia broke to feed
Hernandez, who exchanged passes with Wayne Rooney before
slotting home on 85 minutes.
"I'm delighted with the scoreline but I think it was a very
ordinary performance by us, we didn't reach any great heights in
the game but we did improve in the second half and we probably
deserved to win it," Ferguson told Channel Five.
"At home at Old Trafford [for the second leg] the
opportunity to get through is a big one."
United are playing in the European second tier for the first
time since 1995, while City are more familiar with the Europa
League, having reached the last-16 last term.
Roberto Mancini's men learned from some of their mistakes of
last season and forced home goalkeeper Helton into a series of saves
in a lively start at Porto.
The hosts took the lead when Hulk sent in a low cross that
Silvestre Varela guided in on 27 minutes but City refused to be
put off as they sat deep and tried to catch Porto on the break.
Balotelli had an excellent chance to soon afterwards when he
found himself with space after the ball was played over the top
but his shot from the edge of the area was saved by Helton.
The Italian was involved when Porto gifted their visitors a
55th-minute equaliser as Pereira sent the ball into his own net
under pressure from Balotelli after a long ball from Yaya Toure.
Toure, making a welcome return after several weeks on duty
with Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations, then set up the
winner five minutes from time when he rolled the ball into the
path of Aguero who tapped in to make it two valuable away goals.